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Jerry Jones defends Tony Romo, Jason Witten trip to Cabo in 2007

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones went on the defense of Tony Romo and Jason Witten taking a now-infamous trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico during the bye week of the 2007 playoffs.

That happened to be the last time the Cowboys were the top-seed in the NFC, and they promptly fell 21-17 to the New York Giants in the divisional round the following week.

The Cowboys once again have the top-seed in the NFC, courtesy of stellar play by rookies Dak Prescott and Ezekiel Elliott. But that ’07 trip remains a storyline.

Romo faced much criticism for the trip, which included his old celebrity gal pal Jessica Simpson. Witten, along with former linebacker Bobby Carpenter, also went.

But Jones refuted that the vacation had anything to do with the Cowboys’ early exit that year.

“I know it makes for real interesting dialogue, but I don’t think it had anything to do with what we were doing or what we didn’t do at all,” Jones said on 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday. “I think that what you would say, ‘Well, that looked a little nonchalant.’ Well, you could interpret it that way, but make no mistake about it, the people that were involved there – Jason Witten.

“Now you think Jason Witten had his mind on this game? You think Jason Witten had his mind on this game then? Sure he did. To answer that part, he did. I promise you every word that came out of them ad nauseam … Tony Romo was giving up ‘what ifs’ about what goes on, what might go on in the game. So while they may have been there, they were talking about what was going to go on with this team and what’s going on next week in the game.”

Romo had a forgettable game, completing only half of his 36 passes for 201 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He finished with a 64.7 passer rating. Witten had seven catches for 81 yards.

The coach at the time, Wade Phillips, urged his players to get as far away from football during the bye weekend and Romo didn’t seemed concerned about it going into the New York game.

“Last weekend was good, just watching games,” Romo told reporters the Wednesday before the game. “I got away from the distractions. People don’t see things a certain way sometimes but I know the reality of the situation. I know what I need to get myself in position to hopefully be successful.

“People ask for tickets, media requests, all these things through the weekend. I was able to put my phone aside and just go out and get myself ready and watch some football. It was really fun. It was exciting.”

Of course, the result wasn’t as fun.

Jones described how he’ll spend the bye week as the owner leading into the game on Tuesday.

The Cowboys have the top overall seed for the sixth time in franchise history. They’ve won three Super Bowls with it (1977, 1993 and 1995), and have had one-and-one seasons the other two (1979 and 2007).

“Well [I’ll] spend a lot of time thinking about every nuance of what we’ve got ahead of us,” Jones said. “We’ve got a three-game season coming up. It’s a privilege. Don’t think for one second this owner doesn’t understand how rare this is to be in this spot. We had the opportunity in ’07 and it was on us and out of here and behind us and past us as you will before I blinked. I’ll never forget, I said, ‘How could we have missed that opportunity?’ Of course the Giants had something to say about that.

“But I look at the game itself, I replay that game against the Giants out here in 2007, I bet I replayed it 100 times and looked at it probably that many times. And those just hang with you, they haunt you. So we want to be ready [this year]. Want to be ready for every nuance.”

The Cabo trip had little to do with that loss. That loss was more on coaching than anything. We read the ball ad nauseam and had only 14 points to show for it at the half. In addition, the defense gave up some costly penalties at the end of the half that allowed the Giants to score and swing momentum.

Romo shat the bed but I believe it had more to do with the Giants defense than a trip to Cabo. This is the same defense that rattled Brady and the 16-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.

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The Cabo trip had little to do with that loss. That loss was more on coaching than anything. We read the ball ad nauseam and had only 14 points to show for it at the half. In addition, the defense gave up some costly penalties at the end of the half that allowed the Giants to score and swing momentum.

Romo shat the bed but I believe it had more to do with the Giants defense than a trip to Cabo. This is the same defense that rattled Brady and the 16-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.

The Cabo trip had little to do with that loss. That loss was more on coaching than anything. We read the ball ad nauseam and had only 14 points to show for it at the half. In addition, the defense gave up some costly penalties at the end of the half that allowed the Giants to score and swing momentum.

Romo shat the bed but I believe it had more to do with the Giants defense than a trip to Cabo. This is the same defense that rattled Brady and the 16-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.

I think it's more of a perception thing. It seems like a good number of NFL fans have this unrealistic expectation that NFL players should eat, sleep, and dream about football 24/7. And that every second of the player's day should be dedicated to improving himself on the field.

It's why people were giving Manziel grief for going to Vegas/night clubs in June 2014 when absolutely nothing football related was going on. The media and fans were acting like he was out partying the night before the Super Bowl.

Honestly I don't even have a problem with what the Giants players did. I acknowledge that it looks bad from a perception standpoint. But what did they actually do that is so unacceptable? They had fun on their off day. Six days before a game they went to a club and had fun on a boat on New Year's Day. Oh the humanity!

But I get it. As I said earlier, people expect them to spend all of their down time hunkered down in their basement breaking down Packers film.

If Romo and Witten had done it twenty years ago when it probably wouldn't have been plastered all over the internet, nobody would give it a second thought.

My main memory from that 2007(Jan. '08) playoff game against the Giants was Crayton dicking around on the one route that was probably a sure touchdown. He hesitated and the ball went right over his head.

Only time i could bring myself to root for the Giants was against the Patriots that year. They were so freaking full of themselves it was ridiculous. Maybe my favorite interview to rewatch of a team I don't root for was the one with Brady scoffing when the interviewer asked if they could lose that game.

It was a perfect storm because he took Jessica Simpson and they were photographed grab-assing.

She's credited with the Cowboys losing to Philly late in the year, and Romo definitely was off in that game.

But in the playoffs, Romo was clawing back into the game and we ran into two bad (stupidly bad) penalties and a drop in a key late drive. We then shanked the punt and allowed a 20+ yard return. That turned the game.